Otologic surgery in the outpatient versus the hospital setting.

The results of 11 years experience with 1,577 otologic surgical procedures performed in The Ear & Nose-Throat Clinic, P.A. in Little Rock, Arkansas, a freestanding outpatient surgical setting, are analyzed and compared to 703 hospitalized inpatient cases performed during the same time period. This study includes tympanoplasty, stapedectomy, mastoidectomy, labyrinthectomy and other otologic procedures. Analysis of results in these cases compares hearing results, graft take rates and the occurrence of complications in both the outpatient and inpatient settings. No significant differences are seen between the results or complications in these settings, thus supporting the use of outpatient surgical settings for most standard otologic procedures.